Pokémon Go characters probably worked with Putin to hack the 2016 election

Friday, 13 October 2017, 05:41:40 PM. Gotta watch 'em all.

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Robert Mueller may need to get Professor Oak on the phone to talk about Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

CNN reported exclusively on Thursday that a campaign linked to the Kremlin used the wildly popular app Pokémon Go in an attempt to whip up fervor about police brutality. At one point, the campaign allegedly ran a contest asking Pokémon Go players to go to locations where victims had been confronted by officers, name their Pokémon after victims and capture gyms nearby.

Related: Pokémon Go Player Faces Five Years in Jail for Playing in Russian Church

It's not clear whether anyone actually participated, but the game's maker, Niantic, put out a statement to CNN saying its "game assets were appropriated and misused in promotions by third parties without our permission."

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Russian meddling in the election is a real issue, but CNN's newsbreak inspired a flood of Pokémon Go jokes on Thursday afternoon (it's a laugh-so-you-don't-cry sort of thing). And we're joining in.

As '90s kids know, Pokémon, in general, are kind-hearted—remember in Pokémon: The First Movie, when they all cry and turn Ash back from stone? But not all of them are so amiable. Just consider Misdreavus, whose Pokedex entry reads that "it will use any means necessary to frighten people and absorb their life energy." Yeah, not so cool.

Here are eight Pokémon who are probably double agents:

Hypno. This psychic Pokémon can hypnotize and confuse you, just like fake news.

Cubone. It wears the skull of its late mom, which is straight-up creepy. Also, nobody knows what its face actually looks like. Sounds a lot like how nobody knows who Democratic National Committee hacker Guccifer 2.0 really is.

Sudowoodo. Sudowoodo is not trustworthy—it looks like a tree, but it's a rock type Pokémon. Also, one of its claims to fame is that it's always blocking really important routes. Why?

Voltorb. Voltorb is super temperamental, and if you bump into it the wrong way it'll explode. Similarly, when the U.S. levied sanctions against Russia, President Vladimir Putin slashed the staff of the American diplomatic mission there.

Jigglypuff. It's deceptively cute and can sing you to sleep. Can't trust it.

Meowth. Meowth is on Team Rocket, which makes him automatically evil. He also collects coins, not unlike Facebook did when Russia bought election-related ads.

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